Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) Trading Up 3.8% After Analyst Upgrade

Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ:AVGO - Get Free Report) traded up 3.8% during mid-day trading on Friday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $233.00 to $265.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the stock. Broadcom traded as high as $228.58 and last traded at $226.71. 19,654,818 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 35% from the average session volume of 30,055,164 shares. The stock had previously closed at $218.32.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Broadcom from $175.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 10th. Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $255.00 price target (up from $210.00) on shares of Broadcom in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "buy" rating and issued a $240.00 price objective on shares of Broadcom in a report on Wednesday, December 11th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Broadcom from $201.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Broadcom from $200.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $221.88.

Insider Activity at Broadcom

In other Broadcom news, CEO Hock E. Tan sold 150,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $172.94, for a total transaction of $25,941,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,181,910 shares in the company, valued at approximately $204,399,515.40. This represents a 11.26 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Gayla J. Delly sold 750 shares of Broadcom stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $174.53, for a total transaction of $130,897.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 34,750 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,064,917.50. This represents a 2.11 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 242,420 shares of company stock valued at $42,701,286 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 2.00% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Broadcom

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AVGO. Kiely Wealth Advisory Group Inc. bought a new position in Broadcom in the second quarter valued at about $128,000. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Broadcom during the 2nd quarter valued at about $136,000. American Capital Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Broadcom in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $169,000. Semus Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Broadcom in the second quarter worth approximately $202,000. Finally, Palisades Hudson Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in Broadcom during the second quarter valued at approximately $204,000. 76.43% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Broadcom Trading Up 1.1 %

The company has a quick ratio of 0.94, a current ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.03 trillion, a PE ratio of 191.82, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.13. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $178.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $167.05.

Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, December 12th. The semiconductor manufacturer reported $1.42 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.03. Broadcom had a return on equity of 30.12% and a net margin of 10.88%. The company had revenue of $14.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $14.07 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.98 EPS. Broadcom's revenue for the quarter was up 51.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Broadcom Inc. will post 3.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Broadcom Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 23rd will be paid a dividend of $0.59 per share. This is a boost from Broadcom's previous quarterly dividend of $0.53. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 23rd. This represents a $2.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.07%. Broadcom's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 191.87%.

Broadcom Company Profile

Broadcom Inc designs, develops, and supplies various semiconductor devices with a focus on complex digital and mixed signal complementary metal oxide semiconductor based devices and analog III-V based products worldwide. The company operates in two segments, Semiconductor Solutions and Infrastructure Software.